Sports Logic

Written by Shaun Deering

During yesterday's little exercise in determining the best drafting teams in the post lockout era, I noticed there were a few teams whose drafting prowess should come into question. Anyone can draft the Sidney Crosbys and Patrick Kanes of the world, but the really talented General Managers can look deep into a draft and find gems in the later rounds. Here's a little did you know for you. Did you know that since the year 2000, Detroit has only had 4 first round draft picks? And of those 4, only Niklas Kronwall is in the NHL. I found it jaw dropping on how many impact players the Red Wings have found since 2000 from rounds 2-9. Since 2000, the Red Wings have drafted Tomas Kopecky, Jiri Hudler, Tomas Fleischmann, Valteri Filppula, Jonathan Ericsson, Kyle Quincey, Johan Franzen and Darren Helm after the first round. To compare that to other teams, perennial contender San Jose has drafted 5 (Ehrhoff, Clowe, Carle, Pavelski, Vlasic) and Atlanta has drafted 1 (Tobias Enstrom).

So today, I am going to look at the 5 worst drafting teams in the post lockout era, and as an added bonus, I will also let you in on ten "Whoopsee" moments by a GM and a few other draft factoids.

The Bottom 5 Drafting Teams

Anaheim Ducks – We all know that the Ducks hit a home run when they drafted Bobby Ryan in 2005. But does anyone know the next highest scorer by a Ducks drafted player? Brandon Mikkelson is the answer to that question. He has 2 assists to pace other Ducks draftees to play in the NHL (Brian Salcido, Matt Beleskey, Petteri Wirtanen).

Carolina Hurricanes – Including the 2005 draft, the Hurricanes have drafted 3 players (out of a possible 31) who have played in the NHL. The most prominent name on that list of three is Jack Johnson, who never played a game for the Hurricanes after a well publicized spat between Johnson and Hurricanes' GM Jim Rutherford. The other 2 players who have played NHL games are Brandon Sutter and Zach Boychuk, who have a combined 6 points in 53 games

Florida Panthers – The Panthers have an infuriating level of incompetence when drafting players. Sure, they get players who can play in the NHL, but with an exception or two along the way, they never live up to their potential. Nathan Horton should be a 35-40 goal scorer, but he seems to be content with 25-30. To start this season he has 2 goals and 1 assist in 9 games. Since the lockout, they have drafted Michael Frolik, who looks like the real deal, and others like Kenndal McArdle and Keaton Ellerby who do not.

Minnesota Wild – Unlike the other teams on this list, the Wild actually do get players to the NHL level. The difference is what happens when they get there. Whether the Wild draft poorly, or the Jacques Lemaire system stifled their growth, the fact is that the Wild's drafting record looks poor. The Wild have had 4 players make the NHL since 2005 (Benoit Pouliot, James Sheppard, Cal Clutterbuck and Colton Gillies) and the leading goal scorer out of that group is Clutterbuck with 11. Clutterbuck is also the only one of those four who wasn't a first round pick. With results like that, no one should ever question why Doug Risebrough was fired last offseason.

Tampa Bay Lightning – I know what you're asking. How can a team that drafted Steven Stamkos and Victor Hedman be one of the worst drafting teams in the league? I still maintain the Lightning would have been better served to draft Drew Doughty over Stamkos since going into that draft their best d-man was Paul Ranger, but I digress. With the exception of Stamkos and Hedman who is the Lightning's highest scoring draft pick since 2005? Did I hear someone say Blair Jones? To go back a little further, the Lightning's highest scoring draft pick since 2003 is Nick Tarnasky with 27 points in 214 games. One final note about the Lightning's draft record, they haven't drafted a player who has amassed 100 career points since they drafted Vincent Lecavalier and Brad Richards in 1998. I'm not talking about 100 points as a member of the Lightning, I mean 100 career points as an NHL player. That is nothing short of abysmal. If you're wondering, Paul Ranger is the next closest to 100 with 92 career points.

Ten Draft Mistakes

We all know people make mistakes during the draft. Hindsight may be 20/20, but it is also fun to look back and rip General Managers for their mistakes. All of these mistakes are from the 2000-2009 because to go through every draft would take an eternity...and we all know I don't have that kind of time.

1. In 2004, it was the year of the goaltender. The first round saw Al Montoya, Devan Dubnyk, Marek Schwartz and Cory Schneider drafted. The subsequent rounds saw World Junior Hockey Championship "stars" Jeff Glass and Justin Pogge drafted. So who was the best goalie taken in 2004? That would have been 2009 Calder finalist Pekka Rinne in the 8^th round.

2. There are only 7 players drafted in the first round who have fewer points than the first overall pick. Sadly for those teams (Boston had 2 of the 7) the first pick in 2000 was Rick DiPietro

3. Yesterday I praised the Rangers for their drafting in the post-lockout NHL. In 2003, aka the best draft of all time, the Rangers selected Hugh Jessiman with the 12^th overall pick. Other players selected after Jessiman in the first round include: Dustin Brown, Brent Seabrook, Zach Parise, Ryan Getzlaf, Brent Burns, Ryan Kesler, Mike Richards and Corey Perry. No big deal though, they aren't all in the Canada and US Olympic Team conversation...

4. Speaking of Zach Parise, in that draft, the Oilers held the #17 pick in the draft and traded down with the New Jersey Devils for the 22^nd pick (Marc-Antoine Pouliot) and the 68^th pick (JF Jacques). I like to imagine Steve Tambellini phoning Lou Lamoriello to say "I'll give you Pouliot and Jacques for Parise". Then I like to picture Lou's reaction.

5. One more from the 2003 draft. This one isn't so much a mistake per se, as what might have been. In the 2^nd round, the Flames drafted defenseman Tim Hamholt. If the Flames were in the market for a defenseman, still on the board at that point was a young man named Shea Weber. That means the Flames could have drafted Phaneuf and Weber in the same draft class.

6. This one is straight from the admission of Doug MacLean himself. In 2005, Columbus held the 5^th pick in the draft. As MacLean says, he had narrowed it down to Gilbert Brule and another player. He liked everything about the other player, his attitude, his skating, his intangibles, yet he chose Brule. 4 years later, Brule is playing Edmonton and that other player (Anze Kopitar) leads the NHL in scoring.

7. In the 2004 draft, the Minnesota Wild, who are obsessed with picking players born in Minnesota selected offensive defenseman, AJ Thelen 12^th overall. Another offensive d-man was chosen 29^th overall in that draft. Last Season, Mike Green was the first defenseman to score 30 goals since Kevin Hatcher in 1992-93. But don't worry, Thelen put 3 goals on the board last season for the Florida Everblades of the ECHL.

8. The Wild aren't the only team who have a history of questionable first round picks. The Phoenix Coyotes have selected Krys Kolanos, Fredrik Sjostrom, Jakub Koreis, and Blake Wheeler, none of whom still play in Phoenix. And in the post-lockout NHL, only Martin Hanzal and Peter Mueller are in the lineup on a nightly basis for the Coyotes. Who did the Coyotes select with their first pick in the aforementioned 2003 draft? Tyler Redenbach, who they chose in the 3^rd round. Where did their first round pick go? It went to Philadelphia, who chose Jeff Carter.

9. Ilya Kovalchuk became the first ever Russia to be chosen first overall at the 2001 draft. To celebrate, other teams tried to draft Kovalchuk "clones" with less than idea results. Tampa selected Alexandr Svitov 3^rd overall. Anaheim chose Stanislav Chistov with the 5^th pick. Also drafted in the first round of 2001 were Igor Knyazev (15^th overall to Carolina) and Alexander Perezhogin (25^th to Montreal) who is better known for swinging a stick like a baseball bat to a player's face than actual hockey skill.

10. In 2002, the Florida Panthers had the 9^th overall pick and selected Petr Taticek, a Czech center from the OHL. He played 3 games in the NHLbefore high-tailing it back to the Czech Republic. The next 5 picks in that draft were Eric Nystrom, Keith Ballard, Steve Eminger, Alexander Semin and Chris Higgins. Jeez, who was the running the show in Florida at that time, Mike Keenan? Wait, it actually was Mike Keenan. "Whoopsee"